So I’m sitting at my desk this morning, listening to the iPod, when it shuffles through and starts playing “Night at Sea” by Rachel’s (from The Sea and the Bells). It’s not my favorite track from that album — it doesn’t stand alone very well, it being more of a mood piece to listen to as a part of the whole album — so I tell the iPod to give it two stars¹. At that moment, I remember: what is going on with Rachel’s? Last I checked, they hadn’t updated their website since Autumn, the latest news being their premiere performance of their collaboration with SITI (systems/layers) at Utah State University in August 2004. So, I decided to check in on them, and

OH. GOD.

Rachel’s came to Carrboro on 3 March AND NO ONE TOLD ME. I’ve been wanting to see them live for several years and dammit, dammit, dammit all to Hell I missed them.

The last time I had this experience is when I fell in love with Tori Amos after buying her first album². While at school at NCSU, one of my friends casually dropped the bomb that Tori was in Raleigh at the Rialto — just her and the piano — last week.

So, Charlie Brown, this must be how it feels to have Lucy pull the football away.

¹ I’m in the process of rating all of my music. It’s a difficult task to play favorites. Maybe someday someone will invent a neural link to the iPod that will detect my feelings about a piece of music and, based on my emotional response, apply one to five stars.

² I remember that day well; I purchased Little Earthquakes at the same time I purchased Faith No More’s best album (Angel Dust) at the Southpark Mall Record Bar in Charlotte during the Summer of 1992. I think I got a strange look from the cashier, sort of a “these two albums in one go… what were you thinking?” look.